A new mode of online enabled application-based commercial ground transportation (ABCT) has necessitated a new process for airports or other geographically-defined authorities, or “Permitting Authorities” (PA), to manage such transportation activity.
Commercial transportation plays an important role in carrying passengers to and from airports. Commercial transportation includes taxicabs, limousines, busses, and shuttle vans. Commercial transportation also includes ABCT—online enabled application-based platforms used to connect passengers with drivers using their commercial or personal non-commercial vehicles. ABCT-Providers include what is known in the State of California as Transportation Network Companies (TNCs). Commercial transportation to and from airports is a lucrative business, with drivers typically earning their highest fares overall on trips to and from airports.
State and local governments regulate the various modes of commercial transportation on public roads, whereas airports regulate their own roadways and commercial activity on their property. Airports must maintain a safe and efficient use of their roadways for the traveling public. Airports must also, as required by federal law, be self sustaining. Airports, therefore, typically issue Permits, leases, or other transactional instruments to commercial ground transportation providers and charge periodic fees, per-trip fees, or other charges to cover the costs to maintain and regulate their roadways.
Traditionally, airports and other PAs have monitored, charged, and managed commercial transportation providers and vehicles through manual systems or permanently-affixed transponder devices to track the movements of vehicles on airport roadways. ABCT has presented a new challenge for airports and other PAs because to place a transponder or other permanent tracking device in a vehicle that is not always used for commercial transportation would be impracticable. It may also be regarded as restrictive by drivers whose private trips to an airport maybe tracked by the transponder readers.
What is needed in the art is a way to regulate ABCT-Provider activities within a PA such as an airport. Specifically, PAs need a management system to monitor and track ABCT-Vehicles through a mobile communication device without the need for specialized hardware such as transponders and/or other tracking equipment.